The present specification relates to an adapter tool configured to be attached to a load port of a semiconductor wafer handling system as well as to a wafer handling system.
Semiconductor devices such as transistors, e.g. power transistors, diodes or optoelectronic components for use in e.g. integrated circuits such as processors, memory devices and optoelectronic devices usually are manufactured by processing wafers and singularizing the semiconductor devices after most of the processes for manufacturing the semiconductor device have been performed. In a wafer processing facility comprising a plurality of different apparatuses, e.g. for performing etching processes, photolithographic processes, ion implantation processes and others, the wafers are typically transported in cassettes or magazines, for example front opening universal ports (FOUPs) between the single processing steps. The wafers are transported in the magazines manually or automatically in a clean room, for example. When a single wafer is to be processed in a processing apparatus, the wafers have to be taken out from the magazine, which is usually accomplished by a wafer handling robot. A load port forms an interface between the wafer magazines and the wafer handling robot which takes the single wafers out of the magazines so as to feed them into the processing apparatus.
The wafers may have different sizes. For example, 200 mm wafers have been commonly used and there are wafer handling systems and wafer processing devices that are specifically adapted so as to process 200 mm wafers. In recent years, even larger wafers such as wafers having a diameter of 300 mm have been processed. There are special manufacturing apparatuses which may process the larger wafers. Further, there are processing apparatuses that are adapted to process wafers of different sizes, e.g. 200 and 300 mm.
Accordingly, there is a need for facilitating the handling of wafers having different sizes in a wafer processing facility.